I stay at a lot of hotels every year and it’s always appreciated for staff to go beyond the basics. They were helpful at check in and offered to get my Rewards number and had a nice treat to take to your room. On this trip, I did not have a vehicle and they offered free service to the Mall and train station. Staff was helpful on all counts and the room was a basic HI room, but clean and had free internet. Breakfast was done well also.

Check in was challenging. I arrived in the evening after an exhausting flight across the International Date Line. I needed to extend my stay one night, and as a Priority Club member, I thought this would be easy as long as they had a room available. The attendant was an older woman with a British accent who kept fiddling with the keyboard and telling me that in order to do this I would have to physically move to another room. This made no sense to me, and I told her to just book me in any room where I could stay two consecutive nights. I was so tired I slumped over the counter and put my head down for a while until she finally agreed to let me stay in the same room for two nights. She made it seem like a huge favor. Huge pain in asparagus. Breakfast service and coffee excellent, however dining room and lobby TVs have CNN news all the time which is obnoxious. I saw a desk clerk change from sports to CNN so he could watch from the front desk. But it is clean and the stuff works.

We stayed in room 105 at this hotel in Hanover, MD recently, to visit nearby relatives. It's not the Inner Harbor or a fancy hotel but the Holiday Inn Express model worked quite well for us.

We had a room with two queen beds. Very spacious and clean room, with a bathroom large enough for two people --- decent towels and a very nice large adjustable shower head.

Plenty of standard amenities were available, like an iron and hair dryer and flat screen TV --- and the added pluses of a microwave and fridge. Also a desk, ergonomic office chair and side chair. VERY comfortable beds and numerous pillows labelled *soft* and *firm* so you can take your choice. It was a relatively quiet sleep --- the one exception being our first night when a family next door (there was a connecting door) had a crying baby. Easy to hear but didn't wake us in the middle of the night (thank you, baby).

The free wireless worked well --- always important for us. For those who need to print a boarding pass, there are two super-fast computers near the lobby which have a printer.

For snackoholics, there is a little store next to the front desk where you can buy candy (and a variety of snacks such as one would find in a vending machine), drinks and things to heat up in the microwave.

As always, we prefer interior corridors and an elevator, but were pleased to be on the first floor to not need the available elevator.

There is a healthy continental breakfast each morning, until 10am, with the possibility of pancakes made by a new-fangled machine. Pancake-lovers will enjoy it. Also, for those who get hungry later in the day, the hotel shares a parking lot with Denny's. We also appreciated the free, secure parking.

What was lacking for us ( might be anecdotal -- a one-time only occurrence, I hope) was the staff. They either seemed aloof or inefficient (several examples) and the worst part of it was when we needed the shuttle to pick us up and it took forever, due to (supposedly) their radio in the shuttle not working. We did have a car but depended on the shuttle just one day (which they claim runs reguarly each half hour) as we thought it would be easier. It was ineffective. We didn't depend on their shuttle again.

Other than that ---- we had a pleasant, comfortable stay at the Holiday Inn Express and if someone doesn't need to be in the middle of action downtown (or totally depend on the shuttle), it is a very nice place. Near the Arundel Mills Mall and a number of restaurants, by car.

Staff is sloppy and apathetic. Room was clean, comfortable and pretty nice. Walls are thin and you can hear the neighbors. Location is excellent, just a couple of miles from the airport, Arundel Mills, gambling and Fort Meade. If only the service matched the location...